


friends just sleep in another bed, and friends don't treat me like you do

by dinglesugdendinglesugden



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff, M/M, i basically just rewrote history in this, lets just forget that reunion 2.0 is a thing ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 23:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16438598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinglesugdendinglesugden/pseuds/dinglesugdendinglesugden
Summary: At Christmas, Robert and Aaron decide to have a go at being friends. Weeks pass and they can't sleep without each other, this is a story of them growing closer again.





	friends just sleep in another bed, and friends don't treat me like you do

**Author's Note:**

> for @mrdinglesugden on tumblr x

It had only been a few short weeks after Christmas, the new year barely off to a start and they were friends. Just friends, for the first time ever, trying to get back to being in a good and healthy place. They’d decided it together, both of them still hurt from their split, but neither of them wanting to rush in to anything and make it so much worse.

As much as it was working, the pain was still there. Robert would pick up Aaron in the morning, and they’d drive out, sometimes only to Hotten, and other times just further afield. In the past, they would’ve happily said that these were dates, they’d be able to kiss or hold hands, share food (and Aaron would smack Robert’s hands away from his food) but now -  now they were just friends, and they’d never been exceptional at that.

“It’s difficult.” Aaron admitted, throwing a piece of scrap onto a pile. He tried hard to forget who he was talking to, his head going years back and seeing Vic as his friend, and not as Robert’s sister. “I miss him, I miss being with him, but we need this time to just attempt being friends. Our relationship – we missed out on that. We were together before we really knew each other.”

Vic nodded, listening to everything Aaron had to say whilst she just drank her tea. “You just need some sleep, Aaron. Everyone’s said it. It’s been hectic and you look like you’ve not slept a wink.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re exactly like Diane?” Aaron teased, knowing that it had been said before, many times.

But it was true. Truth be told, Aaron couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually slept a full night, because he was just so used to Robert being with him. Half of the time Aaron would have to push away from him in the night, his body producing so much heat that it was practically unbearable to sleep, but he preferred it over not being able to sleep at all. The bags under his eyes had gotten so bad, purple veins were starting to show like he was a zombie.

 

* * *

 

Robert had been sat in the café, coffee held up to his face as he pushed himself to stay awake in public. It was getting ridiculous now. When he was with Aaron, trying to be friends, he’d been so comfortable. But it was like they were falling into their old routine too quick, treating every adventure out as a date, getting too close for comfort when they’d been sat watching box sets eating Chinese takeaway.  

Aaron had walked in, Liv trailing behind him and already invested in a conversation.

“I’m just saying, if you keep walking about at night I’m not going to be able to sleep either.” She said, eyeing up the cupcakes on the counter. “And you don’t want to see me on no sleep.”

“Already have done, ta.” Aaron counteracted, rolling his eyes. “Listen, I’ll be quiet from now on, but go to school before I have earache as well as sleep deprivation.”

And then Liv left, blanking Robert entirely. Aaron followed moments later, having paid for their food and drinks, but he smiled at Robert, both of them thinking the same thing.

_God, he looked terrible._

Robert waited for a few minutes, drinking the last of his coffee and praying that it was enough to keep him on his feet for a few hours at least. He picked up his phone and typed out a message to Aaron.

**I haven’t been sleeping either.**

It was simple. A short statement, and one that Robert hoped Aaron would understand.

They’d talked about it before, how the two of them were incapable to having a good nights sleep without the other one next to them. On nights where Aaron would be away from Robert on a scrap run, they would stay up for hours just talking on the phone about anything and everything, before they would inevitably fall asleep, phone dropping from their hands onto soft mattresses and having dreams of tomorrow when they’d see each other again.

 

* * *

 

There was a knock on the door that afternoon, Aaron sat in front of the TV, nothing on other than news broadcasts and that was enough to send anyone to sleep. He knew who was there, he’d texted him to tell him to come over, without even really thinking. Anything to help him sleep for even a few hours.

“What’s the plan?” Robert asked when he sat down on the sofa, hands on his thighs, like he was too awkward to do anything else.

Aaron just huffed out a laugh, couldn’t think how else to put it. “We both need sleep. We’re dead on our feet Robert, everyone’s noticed it. I know what we’re like, so how about we just sleep together?”

Robert’s eyes went wide, and if they had the energy, it probably would’ve resulted in the two of them having a laughing fit like they used to do.

“Not like that. Just, sleeping next to each other. No funny business, it just gives us a chance of having a kip.” Aaron explained, muting the TV and getting ready to go upstairs.

So that’s what they did. Literally just slept next to each other, and for the both of them, it was the best sleep they’d had for months. The second their heads hit the cold pillows, it was like old times, only with less heat passing from Robert’s body to Aaron because this time they didn’t cuddle. This time, they had distance between the two of them, but hearing another person breathing slowly, the weight of them next to the other person, it helped so much. The afternoon was lost with forgotten dreams and stinging eyes finally having a rest.

Aaron had rolled over, his arm stretched out to feel Robert’s body next to him but he was gone. Instead, a note was left over, Robert’s neat handwriting on it.

 _Thank you._ It had read. _Keep it between ourselves but it definitely helped x_

Aaron smiled, held the paper close to his chest and smiled as he closed his eyes and fell back to sleep for another half an hour. He wouldn’t admit it, but in this short nap, his face was pressed closer to the space where Robert just was, with faint traces of his familiar aftershave swirling around in Aaron’s memory.

 

* * *

 

After that afternoon, it had happened over and over again. During the day, if they needed to sleep, they’d arrange to meet at the Mill, just because there was less chance of people catching them. Most nights Aaron would sneak out, like he was a teenager again, and go to Keepers Cottage, just to be able to sleep next to Robert. It was these nights where they began to get closer again. They talked in hushed tones, careful to not wake anyone up, discussing their days and what they were going to do the day after. Robert’s bed was barely a double, even smaller than the first bed they owned in Aaron’s bedroom above the pub, so it was a squeeze to fit the two of them in there. At first it was uncomfortable, but they needed to sleep so just got on with it, Aaron’s leg linked in with Roberts, his arm on Robert’s bare back as they snoozed.

Nobody was to know about this arrangement. They just couldn’t. It was Robert and Aaron’s, and theirs alone. The time that they spent allowed them to grow closer as friends, and people had started to notice it.

The bags under their eyes had started to vanish, smiles had grown back on their faces, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed that they seemed so much closer out in the open. They’d started drinking together, eating food together. Seemingly, it was as though their relationship had gotten back on track – yet nobody mentioned it.

 

* * *

 

“Are you coming around tonight?” Aaron asked down the phone, voice low. Privately, he hoped that Robert would, because they needed to talk.

“You want me around there?” Robert quizzed.

Aaron took a deep sigh through his nose and rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t, would I?”

Robert just smiled, and nodded, temporarily forgetting that Aaron couldn’t see. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

He didn’t disappoint. Robert texted Aaron, just after eleven at night, to let him know that he was outside. They did this every time, so that they didn’t have to knock and maybe wake people up.

“How come we’re here tonight?” Robert asked. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Aaron just shrugged, hands in his jogger pockets. “Thought we’ll probably sleep better in a bigger bed.” He explained.

They did. But unlike every other time before when they’d slept in Aaron’s bed, this time they were touching. Aaron’s hands were on Robert’s head, fingers stroking through his hair, massaging him. Robert’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and Aaron grinned, and then grinned harder – if that was at all possible – when Robert subconsciously pulled them closer together.

“We’ve gotten better haven’t we?” Aaron whispered, his lips pressed to Robert’s temple. Here, they were relaxed, at ease.

Robert nodded, and wrapped his arms around Aaron again. It went unspoken, that their relationship just naturally progressed. Robert turned his head to the side, facing Aaron and within seconds their lips connected for the first time in months and it was perfect. Only an innocent kiss, like they were teenagers. All grinning smiles and teeth and emotions.

Then, the day after, they stepped out into the village, hands entwined and smiles never dropping.

This time, they weren’t just boyfriends, they were best friends too; and that changed everything.


End file.
